A Dude Named Victor
by Ionuneos
Summary: So, let's see. I lost the Grand Festival. Blaziken's almost, if not, dead. What do I do? Trust a random, white-haired man that I met five minutes ago to listen to my problems, obviously. -Minor Hoennshipping-


_Hey! This is my first shot at a first-person story, so try to live with me! If I made any mistakes, please point them out to me, as I'm trying to learn how to write one of them properly. I have a much, much bigger story planned, but I thought I could use a little training first. Please enjoy!_

* * *

This is it...

"In the red corner, coming all the way from the Town of Littleroot in the Hoenn region, let's give her a Kanto-sized greeting...MAY MAPLE!"

The completely black room was illuminated by a single spotlight that fell on me. I was a bit stunned at both, the light, and the sudden roar of the crowd. After given a moment to recover from both, I flashed a forced smile and waved to my apparent fans a moment before dropping my arm and sighing. This was too much...

"And on the blue side of the field...No stranger to Contests, and three-time running Grand Festival champion, meet VICTOR LOGAN!"

I was once more left for the shadows as the spotlight shifted to my opponent. He was tall, not to mention intimidating. Very, almost unhealthily tanned skin. Atleast, the small parts of it I could see. Pretty much everything but his head was covered up with some piece of super durable wear...He has to be frying in those things. It's, like, eighty degrees out today!

"Each battler will use one Pokemon..."

Yeah, yeah, I know how it works, just get to the fight already! I'd like to do this before I actually do spontaneously explode from excitement...

"...So, let's get five minutes on the clock! Combatants, release your Pokemon!"

The battle hadn't even started yet, and I already managed to nearly screw myself over. Just a mental note for now: Munchlax doesn't do well in Contests, so don't grab his freaking Pokeball! Apparently, I was sweating as I put away Munchlax's Pokeball to grab another one...

"Anxious, are we?" my opponent called out.

I looked up. He had a tight grip on the Pokeball he was going to use inside of his demonic black gloves. His smile and voice was somewhat elitist, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that maybe he isn't such a bad guy afterall... "I'll be just fine, thanks!"

"Mm..." A slightly widened smirk was basically his only reply.

I unintentionally froze right here. Every good Coordinator I've met in my life hardly talks at all...spare Harley, I suppose. And this guy seemed to be doing an excellent job of keeping his trap shut. I'm starting to get a _little _apprehensive that, perhaps, there's a _reason_ he's won three Grand Festivals in a row... I took a deep breath, focused my thoughts, and tried glaring at Logan confidently.

Afterall, I have a reason to be. Not to brag, but I've technically gotten enough Ribbons to enter six Grand Festivals... I'm thinking I should shut up and send in my Pokemon before the MC really gets pissed. "Let's go, Blaziken!"

I couldn't help but wonder what was going through his mind. It took him atleast fifteen seconds to release his Pokemon, even though he had it in his hand the entire time. He was just staring at Blaziken.

Maybe he was scared? I actually giggled to myself. A three-time champ, scared by a-

"Well, well. This should be quite the interesting battle." He lifelessly tossed the Pokeball into the arena.

It snapped open. Me? I've never heard of this guy before. But apparently a few others have, because the crowd went insane when his Pokemon began to form after leaving its compact home.

It took me a few minutes to even figure out what it was. Eventually, the human-like shape with white legs and a green body tipped me off. A Gallade? Can't you only get them in the Sinnoh region? Maybe not... Either way, that isn't what I could be concerned about right now. Both Pokemon are Fighting-type, but his is also part Psychic, which has an advantage over Fighting...Why didn't I know this wasn't going to be easy? "There's no backing down, Blaziken! Try Eruption!"

"'Try' Eruption? Are you doubting your skills already?" he quickly returned to me.

I'm pretty sure I snarled at him. Whether I physically showed it or not, that got my pretty pissed off. How dare he go about saying something like that?! I happen-

"Perhaps we should end this quickly. Use Slash!"

Come on, May...focus...Probably all of Littleroot's watching me right now, and I can't blow it that badly! But wait...why did he use Slash? Why not use a Psychic-type attack? Less thinking, more fighting... "Get out of there, Blaziken, and counter with Double Kick!"

Victor's Gallade charged at Blaziken before it could even fire off the Eruption, but nothing short of expected, Blaziken backflipped twice to separate the distance between the two. My current -and did I happen to mention favorite?- Pokemon took a flying leap forward giving two solid, aerial-based roundhouse kicks to Gallade's neck.

My eyes shot up to the humongous LCD screen quickly, then returned to the battle, like they always seemed to involuntarily do. Victor had lost a decent amount of points, and I lost a sliver too, most likely because I attacked a Psychic-type with a Fighting-type move. Still, if I could have that exchange rate throughout this entire battle, I'd take it.

"Impressive!" And now my opponent's clapping for me...This guy's seriously too full of himself. "So you aren't one to take likely. Just a plus-one to the ever-expanding list of reasons never to judge a book by its cover, hm?"

I have no idea what he just said.

"I still got three and a half minutes to kill. Let's try something different. Use Double Team!"

That was slightly strange, too. Double Team...really isn't a good option for Contests. It's pretty cheap, and I think even banned in some places. Lucky for me, not here. I sighed half-heartily, though the constant thought of if I could turn this to my advantage was in the back of my mind. Why isn't he firing Psycho Cuts at me or something? "Blaziken, concentrate! If you can track Gallade down, hit it with a Fire Punch!"

"'If you can'?" Logan chimed in once more. He does that too much. "Surely you aren't doubting your Pokemon's skills as well?"

Oh, how I wanted to be disqualified from this match because I shot my opponent inbetween his eyes. What a jerk! Geez, atleast Drew gives me roses...If nothing else, atleast it's a counterweight to mocking me all the time. As much as I wanted to snap back at him, I knew he wasn't worth the time. "C'mon, Blaziken! You can do it!"

Blaziken nodded, as if waiting for my words. There were now four Gallade in a crescent moon pattern near Victor. All were staring down Blaziken coldly. Its response? A smirk. As Blaziken lifted a single leg up to begin dashing toward the group, a command came out of nowhere.

"Now use Teleport!"

One by one, the Gallade started disappearing, then reappearing in completely random places across the battlefield. Even though there was four of them, no more than one was ever revealed at once. Of course, probably not even a second later, that one would disappear, and another one would take its place.

I clenched my teeth. Not only was this quite a defensive tactic...dangit...it looked pretty good, too. My points decreasing at a slow, but all-too steady rate told me that I wasn't alone in that thought. I had to do something this instant...and wipe that smug grin off Logan's face. "Blaziken, fire Ember into the air!"

"What's this?" I heard Victor say...still overly-confident.

Blaziken turned its head up to the ceiling and opened its beak. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of tiny 'lil fire-consumed snowflakes shot out of it, launching all the way up to the roof...but not quite hitting it.

Suck this, Logan. "Quick Attack, then Slash!"

I pumped my arms more than excitedly. Maybe this won't do much damage...but it'll sure look pretty.

Blaziken hopped into the air at an incredibly fast pace. In fact, it beat the Embers to their peak. After they caught up, Blaziken repeatedly chopped through all of them, never once tiring. The hundreds turned to two hundreds, and the thousands turned to two thousands. Though they were incredibly small, there were so many, it lit up the vaguely-lit arena in a spectacularly gorgeous way. But don't take my word for it; ask the judges, who stood up from their seats and applauded the maneuver.

Having nowhere to Teleport to that didn't have a singeing flame falling down on it, the Gallade's clones disappeared, and the true one got smoked. Granted, like I said, they were so small, it hardly hurt, but...Hey, got to start somewhere, right?

Victor...well, he lost just shy of half of his points. If you've never experienced it before, let me be the first to tell you: there really is no greater feeling than basically wrapping the match up in a single move.

_Clap, clap, clap._

My beaming smile quickly dropped. Doesn't this guy get intimidated by anything?!

"You're nothing less than an amazing Coordinator, Miss Maple!"

Please don't call me that.

"Still..." He yawned.

He yawned.

He yawned?! What a bloody jerk! Or, atleast he will be bloody as soon as I can get him in the parking lot...

"...I'm getting somewhat bored. I know it's more fun waiting until the buzzer to win a battle, but my legs are getting tired. Let's go ahead and finish this."

...He's bluffing. He's bluffing. Right? I checked the scoreboard. Yeah, he's bluffing. My three-quarters laughs at his less than one-quarter, and with a little less than a minute left? Good game, prick!

"Psycho Cut!"

About time. That only took him the entire match. "Blaziken, dodg-"

I couldn't finish.

Not before Blaziken went sailing past me, about three or four inches away from taking me with it.

I froze. Gallade must have landed next to its Trainer, even though I didn't see it do it. Or atleast, paid attention to it. My mind was set on tilt until I heard two simultaneous dinging noises, followed by a third one soon after. I quickly jerked my head to the judges to see them all frowning, but that wasn't what made the tears come to my eyes...the three glowing, red x's on their panels were.

Something strange happened next. A thought came to my mind...Blaziken. I spun around on my heel, and accidentally let out a shriek of horror.

Covering Blaziken was bl...bl...b...bl...

I don't know why I did it, but I rubbed my eyes on my arm. It freed my vision of tears, which was beautiful...

...Now I could see Blaziken's dying body better.

Nobody was going to get in my way. I bolted towards my very first Pokemon faster than I had ever ran before. I might have even knocked an unprepared camera guy down, I don't know. Like I care right now. I slid on my knees to reach it, only to land in a pool of Blaziken's b...please don't make me say it.

I quickly threw my arms around my Pokemon's neck. The...liquid, it was coming out so fast... My shirt must have gotten as soaked as Blaziken's shoulder did from my tears. "No! It's not fair! Please, you can't die!"

Suddenly, I felt two overly-strong hands grip me under my arms and forcefully pull me away from Blaziken. I was too confused to think about...oh, I don't know...maybe turning my head to see who was invading my personal space. Besides, my eyes never left Blaziken. Without so much as asking for permission, or even telling me what was going on, four men, all clearly nurses, lifted Blaziken up and rested it on a stretcher. Even with all four doctors working at it, they still had a somewhat hard time making it over to the ambulance that had pulled in just outside the emergency exit.

After they left, I felt the arms around me get released. Being reminded of that, I took a couple steps forward to get a decent distance away, then turned around to see...

Him.

For the first time since I've seen him, he was finally not smiling. Though I don't know why. It wouldn't surprise me if he found enjoyment in things like this.

"Maybe I over-did it just a bit."

...A bit? A bit? Was that supposed to make him feel better, or make me feel worse? I hope it was the former, because the latter didn't work. As of right now, I didn't care _why_ Blaziken got hurt, I cared _that_ Blaziken got hurt. Tears were falling out of my eyes at an incredibly rapid rate, but it's not like I was sobbing or anything. My mind was busy thinking about those two words. A bit. A bit, huh? Maybe I'll only break _a bit_ of your skull later.

Without a word, I stepped past him and darted for the same door the paramedics ran through. The stupid Contest thing was the last thing on my mind right now...

...My Blaziken...

The ambulance; speeding, sirens on. I didn't care. I chased after it on foot. Though it only made me cry harder, I sorta understood that the ambulance disappeared out of my sight range rather quickly. Sobbing, choking, I ran toward the sunset...Was there something else to do? Blaziken...it was my first Pokemon. The small Torchic that I received back when I didn't even care about Pokemon. It was...a monument to me. To see it laying there, covered in-

OW.

...Yeah, that one hurt. Rubbing my head from the pain that smashing it into a cement sidewalk may have given it, I looked back to see what I had just tripped over. The headache turned to second fiddle as I furrowed my eyebrows at the object.

It was blue...and black. And looked like...a dog thing? I've never seen it before.

Its reaction to me was something of the same thing. It just...sorta stared at me. Forgetting why I was running so fast in the first place, I actually smiled after gazing into its huge, cute yellow eyes for a moment. My nose automatically sniffling reminded me about Blaziken, but...I suppose for now I'll trust Blaziken's life with the paramedics. Not like I could really do anything anyway. Besides, you know...stand there...crying...

In the middle of the barren sidewalk, I broke down. The tears were coming out against my will. Now not only was it because of that awful memory I have of Blaziken dying right in front of me...it was also beginning to sink in that I lost the Grand Festival. Whether it was fair or not didn't matter...My Pokemon was knocked out...maybe...permanently...

My soaked eyes opened back up when another wet object slapped my face. The dog was licking my cheek with its tiny, red tongue. Its front paws bore into my arm a bit as it needed the boost to actually reach my face. I think I let out a smile, but even if I did, it didn't last long. I immediately wrapped my arms around its thin skeleton and hugged it closely, dampening its navy-colored fur with the stupid tears that wouldn't stop.

After just a few moments, it began pushing against my body. Outwardly smiling because of its playfulness, inwardly hating that I couldn't cry on anything anymore, I released my grip and let it roam free.

I smiled as I watched it run around in circles a few times. I was rubbing my eyes and starting to get up at the same time when I noticed that...well, it was pointing in a direction.

My eyes wide with shock that a four-legged Pokemon would do something like that, I steadily turned my gaze in the direction it was mysteriously pointing at. It was a rather lush uphill. The grass looked very healthy, not to mention soft, and deep down, I was hoping laying down in it would help me stay calm. About halfway up was a tree...birch, I think? Maybe. I dunno. Though my face was still flushed red from all my crying, I couldn't help but grin a little at how bountiful the tree looked as well.

The dog barked a couple times, all the while still looking at me, and I think it was even smiling. Of course, the bark sounded about as intimidating as a poodle's, but that only made it cuter! Probably unable to store its energy any more, the puppy frolicked its way up the hill, chasing a tiny butterfly on the way.

I took a deep breath, then let it out. It did make me feel better, I admit. Curiosity still taking over me, I began walking towards the same hill.

...Wow. The stupid thing is steeper than it looks four feet back. I looked at the top and realized that I couldn't even see what was at the peak. That only drove me further. That, and for some reason, I just can't leave the dog. It was still chasing after that butterfly, by the way. So cute...I guess, in a way...it reminds me of Torchic, when it was young. Always...getting into trouble... I stopped. My head was hanging low on my neck. "...Please don't die, Blaziken..."

More tears, more tears! Even I was getting sick of them. I still can't believe that jerk would stoop so low just to win some stupid Contest...I don't care how glorious the title, if a Pokemon dies because of it, then it's never worth it! Never!

Finally, I started walking again. I couldn't revel in that event forever...I just had to pray that fate had the same thing in mind for Blaziken that I do. And the Grand Festival loss? I...I don't know. It'll just have to come next. Since I don't think it's actually fully hit me yet.

I believe the puppy was starting to get bored of my slow pace. It jerked its head over its shoulder and barked a few times. Then, out of nowhere, it didn't pay a second's attention to the butterfly, and zoomed right past it, only to disappear behind the peak of the hill.

Once more, I found a smile on my face. It was so hard to feel bad with such an adorable animal around. I wonder if it belongs to anybody?

After trudging up the hill a little while longer, I also succeeded in conquering it. I looked around for a moment. Oddly enough, the top part of the hill had a wide railing ringing across it, even though there wasn't anything of the sort just back there. Ah, well...Kanto-ins. What can you do?

I smiled weakly as the puppy continued prancing forward, but it stopped when it reached somebody's pantleg. My heart nearly blew through my chest. I didn't know anybody else was up here!

Without a word, I watched him for a moment. I had a feeling that he had a feeling he was being watched, but I couldn't help myself. His back was turned to me. He was leaning on the railing, with his autumn jacket swaying in the constant breeze that we had today. He was looking out into the sunset, but his head turned to the ground next to him when the dog began tugging at his pantleg with its teeth.

"What happened to the frisbee?" he asked it jokingly.

Still having fabric in its mouth, the puppy seemed to growl back at him.

I brought my hand up to my chest and turned my head to look back down the hill. Maybe he didn't know I was here, so it might just be best to leave before he finds out...

...Or not.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't know you were there!"

I jerked my head back. He had apparently seen me out of the corner of his eye while he bent down to pick the dog up. I assumed this because he was bent over in the direction of the dog. It might be a good clue. "No, don't apologize..." I replied, much more quietly than I had intended to. I finally forced a tiny smile. "Is that yours?"

He laughed before responding. "Yeah, sorta. It's actually my crazy father's. It's just been hanging around with me for awhile." Now with the puppy in his arms, he stood back up straight. "Is everything alright? Your face is a little red..."

I let out a gentle yelp that I doubt he heard...or hope he didn't, anyway. Isn't it funny how being notified that you're blushing only makes the blush worse? "...Y-Yeah, I'm okay! The truth is, I've just been crying alot, and-" I stopped immediately. And...why am I confiding in a guy I just met half a minute ago again?

He cleared his throat. His eyes seemed to be a bit more serious, but at the same time...nervous. I'll never know why I observed something like that. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Furious. Hatred. Unbelievable! Buddy, here's a clue. Put it somewhere you'll remember it. Don't be a suspicious guy asking a vulnerable girl if she wants to 'talk' about something! I mean, how stupid do you think I- "Alright..."

...What?!

Alright, that was **not** intentional! I did not say that! I want a recount! I can't believe that just left my mouth so automatically. I'm not that stupid! I-

"You're May Maple, right?"

He leaned on the railing, but that wasn't my current concern. Now even _more_ anger was surging through me. How does he know my name?! What is he, some stalker or something?!

...Oh.

...That's right.

...Sorta forgot that I'm kinda famous.

Hehe...

Giggling at my modesty, I slowly -albeit cautiously- stepped up to the railing beside him. The sunset really was gorgeous, even though it somewhat blinded me from viewing the town below. It helped me calm down, along with the reading I got from this guy...he didn't really seem like somebody who would screw me over like that. Eh...I'll still keep an eye on him. "A fan of mine?"

He laughed again. Out of the corner of my eye, I also saw his eyes turn to the puppy in his arms, and he began stroking its ear with his hand. "You could say that. I generally don't pay much attention to finalists, unless I'm one of them, though. No offense!"

My eyes shifted to him, but the rest of my body didn't move. "You're a Coordinator?"

His head turned back to the sunset. "I like to enter Contests for the fun of it from time to time, but it's not my main occupation."

I finally altered my position. I turned around, giving the railing my back, and leaned on it that way instead. "Oh, so you're a Trainer?"

He shook his head. "Nope. Researcher." He held his hand out for me. I looked at it, then back up to his smirking face. "Brendan Birch."

I gasped and nearly flipped over the railing and down the hillside. Alright, maybe not really... After rudely staring at him a moment longer, I finally remembered he was still offering his hand to me. I gripped it and shook it. "You're the son of Professor Birch?"

He laughed once more and returned his arm to keeping the puppy held. "That'd be my crazy father."

"Amazing..."

Brendan set the eccentric puppy back on the ground and watched it dash around the plain randomly. "Researching Pokemon can be...interesting. Especially when your researching partner, who happens to be your father, is a little...accident prone."

I couldn't help but laugh. "I've heard that Professor Birch can have...trouble with Pokemon sometimes."

"You know, I'm feeling a little bad..." Though he didn't get up, he turned his head back and looked at me. "We're supposed to be talking about you, not me."

For a few moments, my mind was finally off of what happened. And then brilliant here just had to bring it back. My head knowingly fell to the side. "...N-No, it's okay. It doesn't really feel right bothering you with my problems, you know?"

His voice seemed to turn even more serious. Maybe he actually got a little mad at my modesty? "...I watched you bolt after that ambulance." Tears clouded my eyes. I bit my lip. "What happened in there?"

I turned my head to the other side. Sure enough, this hill has a spectacular view of the Contest Hall I was just at not that long ago. Pretty much everybody seemed to be outside the building, and there were even a few cop cars down there. "I lost...My opponent...severely wounded my Pokemon..." Sugarcoating it only made me feel even worse. I'm going to have to eventually come out and say that Blaziken was soaked in bl...

"You didn't fight Victor Logan, did you?"

I quickly jerked my head back to him. I could read something of a curious, worried, and sympathetic expression on his face before I verbally responded. "Y-Yes, it was. You've heard of him before?"

"Who hasn't?" I sorta cringed at that. "Logan's been known to toy with an opponent the entire match, then KO the opponent's Pokemon about half a second before the buzzer goes off. He gets quite a thrill from it, which I guess I can understand, but some of the tactics he employs is just downright nasty."

'Employs'? I guess researchers use big words. As long as they don't hit ten or more letters, whatever.

I couldn't really hide it any longer. Trying to find humor in something as stupid as what words he uses didn't help in the least. Embarrassing as it was, I lowered my head, like that was going to help, and broke down. "He almost killed Blaziken..."

Almost...Hopefully.

Through my loud-as-ever chokes, I did hear Brendan sigh. That actually gave me a rain check to feel better. It's nice to know somebody's on my side.

"Is it going to be alright?"

My head lifted. Past Brendan. It didn't stop until my eyes locked onto a cloud above. A blurry cloud. "...I hope so."

I heard rustling in his direction, but couldn't drop my head from the sky. It began getting closer, but it was like something was holding my head back. I couldn't drop it if I wanted to.

Suddenly, I felt two masculine arms hidden behind a thin jacket take a hold of my body. I was immediately paralyzed by fear.

"...I'm going to warn you of something. I could tell you the only three known reasons why Snorlax cry, but I can't say I have a clue what I'm doing with humans, so I'ma just wing this one."

...Something. Something about those words. I don't know. The sarcastic, casual, but friendly way he put them, maybe? I don't know. Who cares? Whatever it was, my tears inhumanly stopped. I laughed. Hard. My fear dropped. I put my arms tightly around Brendan's firm waist, then rested my eyes on his right shoulder.

Still holding me tightly, he continued, softly, but knowingly. I had an inkling that he's cheered one or two people up before, not just Pokemon. "You want to know something?"

I made a quick, curious grunt, since I didn't feel like responding verbally. Even it had the aftereffects of both, my crying and laughing.

"Your last Contest. Not the Grand Festival, but I was at the last Contest you entered."

I backed away from the hug, mostly due to surprise. A small part of me hoping that...maybe I could get another one in a minute. "You were?"

"Mm-hm."

Enjoying the neutral conversation for now, I brought my arms back until I felt the railing. I grabbed a hold of it, then fell back until I was leaning on it. "How far did you make it?"

"Didn't get past the first round."

There was an admittedly awkward moment of silence for a minute. If what he said just a moment ago -that forced me to break out into that little laughing fit- was any indication, then I don't understand why he didn't atleast chuckle right there...He was too carefree not to. "Who was your opponent?"

His eyebrow slightly raised. His head fell to the ground, and he rubbed the back of it with his hand. "...You know 'im."

Like an idiot, I cupped my hands over my mouth. What does that do, anyway? I've seen it before, and just thought...I don't know. Something happened when you did it. "You don't mean...!"

His head rose back up. Something of an annoyed expression was on his face. "Victor Logan."

Much smaller droplets of water came to my eyes this time. It's a little sad when nothing but the mention of a name is needed to make me cry. "He didn't hurt your Pokemon, did he?"

"Yeah, he did. Pretty badly, actually."

The tears grew slightly bigger, though they weren't ready to fall yet. "I'm so sorry...How is it?"

Brendan smirked. This confused me to no ends. After a moment of standing still, he moved off to the side.

Behind him...the puppy, rapidly clapping its front paws in front of its face, trying to catch a bug that I couldn't even see. That, or it was just clapping its front paws in front of its face...just because.

I stared at it for a moment, then suddenly looked back up to Brendan. The same smirk stayed on his face. I beamed. "That's...?"

"Yep. Dang thing's more hyper now than it was before that battle."

So much relief coursed through my body. If Brendan's Pokemon survived a holocaust, mine should too, right? "So you actually think-"

I couldn't even finish that sentence. He was probably waiting for me to ask it. "As far as I know, Logan's never actually killed a Pokemon before. I think your Blaziken will be just fine."

I wanted to scream. Or dance. Or scream and dance, or something! That was such an amazing boost of confidence. Once again, my face turned red, and it had nothing to do with my crying. "Th-Thank you, Brendan. I needed to hear that."

"Is that it?"

I quickly perked up. He didn't somehow take that in a bad way, did he?! "Huh?"

"Something else seems to be on your mind..."

I gave a gentle breath of relief, glad that was the only problem. I turned around and walked towards the very tip of the hill. I can't believe how much of a drama queen I am. "The truth is...I think...I have to retire as a Pokemon Coordinator." Immediately after I spoke the last word, I heard some more noise coming from his direction, though I knew he wasn't walking towards me this time. Yet again, I couldn't work my body up to move in the least. "That scene...back there...it was too scary. I can't risk going through it again." Tears swelled inside, but the still-fresh thought of Blaziken being safe stopped them from falling. "It's been my dream for as long as I can remember to be a Coordinator, but it's just not worth nearly losing one of my closest friends for it, you know?" I'm not embarrassed to admit that my Pokemon are my best friends. No Trainer, Coordinator, researcher, whatever...None of them should be.

"Hey, May?"

I slowly turned around. An involuntary gasp proceeded.

Brendan was holding a case in front of him. Inside the case was five mint condition Coordinating Ribbons.

I blinked at them for a moment. "...Wh-What? You have five Ribbons? But...you weren't at the Grand Festival..."

"Nah." He shut the case, then set it back inside his backpack. He bent down and petted the puppy vigorously, which it seemed to enjoy. "I love Contests, but fame and that? Eh...If I die tomorrow, I'd rather be known for how many times I got bit by a Zigzagoon, not by how many chalices are under my belt."

I chuckled. A chip off the old block, we have here.

Out of nowhere, he fell backwards, laying on the tranquil grass. He set his hands behind his head for comfort. I laughed when he gasped for air after the puppy jumped on his stomach. "Maybeee...you shouldn't try so hard."

Now my interest was really piqued. "Hm?"

"Don't take Contests so seriously for awhile. You can still participate in them, but don't treat them like it's life and death, you know? After a few times of doing that, maybe you'll be feeling better about yourself, and you can start competing for real again."

I blinked at him blankly for a few moments. Mostly curious where that all had come from. "I...I'm sorry?"

He laughed, probably at my cluelessness. I hated that. It makes me feel like a blonde or something. "I do that with my research from time to time. It's really important to blow some steam off every once in awhile, and stepping off your high horse is a good way to start. Your mind gets a chance to recover, and you start to realize that it's not all about work. There's alot of fun in doing things like researching and Contests that degrades over time, but it'll recover after a break."

After a bit more confusion surged through me, I finally let out a wry smile. I shouldn't be so surprised. He is the son of Professor Birch, after all. He probably spends all day thinking about things like this.

My thoughts turned from Brendan to myself. I felt something...lifted. As a test, I purposely turned my thoughts to Blaziken, and...nothing. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't...feel bad anymore. I knew Blaziken would be okay. I mean, look at the cute puppy! That, after taking such a thrashing? And as for my Contests...well, maybe Brendan's right about that too. I guess I did get a little too tense during that battle. I should consider, not stopping, just...quitting. For awhile. Alright, that made no sense.

"You know something?" Brendan picked the dog into his arms, then stood up. He dusted himself off a bit before turning to, and smirking at me. "I just remembered that I have a disease that, if I don't eat ice cream by six 'o clock, my eyes fall out. How about you and I go get some?"

I laughed. Before I responded, though, I turned my head over my shoulder. The Contest Hall.

Victor Logan. That's one name I won't be forgetting any time soon.

My head turned back straight. I caught Brendan's contagious smirk. "Sure!"

* * *

_Mm...Please don't hurt me. ;-;_

_The truth is, this was originally supposed to end as a Hoennshipping fiction, but as I got writing...I dunno. Somewhere along the line, it never really got off the ground. It's fun keeping them 'just friends' too, you know?_

_Here's another truth...This was originally supposed to end as a oneshot...but you know something? Would you enjoy a sequel? It definitely wasn't planned, but if I knew that some people were interested, I'd love to put some time into creating a continuation. But I'll leave that one up to you. Thank you for reading!_


End file.
